Has Anyone Been To AFRICA???

derpina

derpina

Active member
I've been looking into wildlife sanctuaries in Africa to volunteer at for a few years now. Really want to make it happen next year. Mainly interested in working with Big Cats or Primates.

Has anyone been to Africa? Interested in hearing about your experience or if you have any programs to recommend.
 
I believe steezus christ went there recently but I havent seen him online in ages
 
thatd be cool.do you have all your vaccinations? yellow fever etc. just watch out for the tribes, malaria, hagglers, thieves and pretty much the entire population of africa. theyre all out to get you. theyll literally kill you for your bone meat
 
oh. yea ive been there. the compound was definately a safe haven.. africa is fucked
 
Worked at a wildlife sanctuary in South Africa for a few months. Got to work with cheetahs and lions etc.

I did it through a UK based gap year program, forget the name now but it was pretty well organised. Cost quite a bit though.
 
Vaccinations are required by law when traveling to countries like Africa.

I'm aware of the dangers, thanks. ;-) Want to participate in something bigger than myself, adventure is in my DNA.

One love.
 
So almost everybody who is from Africa is either part of a tribe, a haggler or a thief, oh and they are all starving. Nice one judging, kill yourself.
 
My girlfriend went to Africa last summer, as a volunteer on a humanitarian project, and absolutely loved it.

She said it was a massive culture shock, (people walking with round with guns and machetes, absolute poverty, living in a slum) and pretty scary, but amazing at the same time, and got to experience so many new things. Based on that, I would counsel you to go for it.
 
Yeah I looked into that.

1. I want to go for a max of 4 weeks, not a minimum of 2 years.

2. I couldn't qualify (mostly cuz of health).
 
Before you make any snap decisions, you need to know of some of the dangers present in Africa./static/images/flash_video_placeholder.png
 
I did exactly what you described. I spent 30 days doing volunteer conservation work, mostly in Botswana, but also spent a decent amount of time in South Africa. I added on an additional few days in-country to do some more personal stuff (a safari).

Calling it volunteer work is a bit of an oxymoron. More like pay-to-volunteer work. There are no "free" programs, especially for primates or the big cats. You have to pay, a considerable amount, for the privilege of "volunteering." In fact, it was by far the most expensive month of my life, and I could have bought a car for what I paid, although the safari cost a considerable amount (absolutely worth it).

It is essentially a great way to see "wild" Africa, not entirely as a tourist. I would recommend it, but make sure you understand what you are getting into. These programs do not need volunteers to help with serious scientific work. They need rich Americans to pay them what is a small (maybe large) fortune in Africa, for the experience of being in Africa and perhaps aiding a bit with some research. There are several outfits that rely entirely upon "busy work," work that does not need to be done and that serves no purpose to anyone, to keep their paying "volunteers" busy. I know of one outfit in general that does daily game counts in a fairly small area, and while this is interesting to go along on, the data gathered is of use to no one, and most likely is not even reported.

Overall it was a positive experience, but I have always been fascinated with Africa. I intend to return many times, although not for conservation work. Feel free to PM me for additional details, such as the operation I went with.
 
Where in Africa do you want to go. There are wildlife parks / conservations from South Africa to ethiopia. Some places are safe some I wouldn't want to be without a fireteam.
 
Thank you for that response.

I've done a lot of research into different programs on and off over the past few years. I'm well aware of the costs. I'm very blessed to live in a well-off family and the money is not an issue. (I'm not spoiled, but when it comes to giving my time and energy to a good cause the money is there.)

And I'm definitely aware of the mindless tasks I will probably be doing. But like you said, it's all for the experience. This will be more of an experimental/introductory trip as I will probably go back.

I'll definitely PM you if I have any further questions.

Thanks!
 
ya soooo legit. No doubt you will just have a vibe there that you have never felt before its crazy seeing an elephant in the wild
 
I did visited Africa twice. The first was a safari in South Africa, and the second was volunteering in Uganda.

PM me if you want my input, as I'm too lazy to write right now.
 
You likely didn't mean it as such, but Africa is not a country. It also depends which countries you visit as to whether or not vaccinations are a legality.

At this point I've only been to Egypt (doesn't really count,) but in 10 days I am headed to Namibia, Zambia and Tanzania for 5 weeks. Should be good, but don't have the time for any volunteering. I'm sure that would be a great experience though.
 
Then absolutely go for it! My one recommendation would be to absolutely steer clear of anything in South Africa. SA is the "tame" version of Africa. Everything, and I do mean everything, is behind a fence. Yes, these fences are big....but the environment is controlled. If you have driven through Texas, or are familiar with deer hunting, SA is the Texas of Africa. Botswana is a solid choice, as is Tanzania. A more jungle type experience would be interesting as well, such as Cameroon. Zimbabwe is of course not an option, due to Mugabe. Kenya is another good choice, and for one reason or another Kenyans particularly love Americans.

Don't be afraid to look into other options while you are there. The airfare is so costly, you might as well kill two birds with one stone. If there is something you have always wanted to do or see (such as Victoria Falls), add it on. This can take a lot of research, but it was absolutely worth it for me. There was no way I could see going all the way to Africa without living my dream of a safari.

Like others have said, Africa is a whole other world. I adapted as much as I could while I was there, going barefoot almost everywhere and venturing out into the bush on my own repeatedly (very much against the wishes of the person in charge). I did have one sketchy experience getting mauled by a poisonous fish....long story. It is an interesting experience to go to town and walk around the mall in bare feet with a knife on your side. I picked up just enough of the local language that I could almost pass as a local, if I didn't speak much. I didn't go in "green," as I have studied Africa and Africana extensively. You will have a great time, and it will not be anything like what you expect - those two things are for sure!
 
HA, oops! I meant IN Africa, my bad. And yeah I know vaccinations aren't needed in all of them. A few of the conservatories I'm interested in border a malaria zone though, and the 3-day included Safari enters those zones, so I would definitely be going through the vac. program.

Are you going for work?
 
Hmmm, very interesting!! Thank you for that suggestion!!

After my research that totally makes sense. The programs I've looked into in SA are definitely more "modern", if you will, compared to the others.

I don't want to get too remote though, since I will most likely be traveling alone... And though I've traveled alone since I was 17, it has been within North America. The thought of trying to get to a remote little sanctuary with multiple transfer stations in Africa is intimidating to say the least.
 
I went to Africa. Specifically, Kenya and Tanzania for about 5 weeks in 2008. Got to see both urban and tribal culture and was on a private tour with local ex-pat brits with small airplanes who made it far from a tourist experience. They only hired Samburu sp? tribes men and me pitched camp in the middle of the savanna and traveled all over.

It was one of the wilder trips ive ever been on.
 
Fuck me, forgot about that. I'll try not to have sex with bisexual men. Thanks for the advice!

*rolls eyes*
 
Been to S. Africa twice. PM me with questions if you want. My sister also worked in an orphanage in Tanzania so I need a good amount of information through her stories.
 
My mom climbed killi last year and told me alot about Kenya/ tanzania. It really is large culture shock coming from the west. It's really beautiful country Near the border of the two. I would not reccomend going to South Africa though, I understand it is way more civilized then you would want traveling there.
 
I went there (Morocco) back in April of '09. I was only there for 4 hours, but it was an experience I'll never forget. Not that Morocco is true Africa, more of the middle east, but I had an awesome guide. I walked through the Medina, or old part of Tangier. The people there definitely looked at me differently, but it's understandable because I am an outsider. I walked through a fish market and saw a shark just lying on the ground ready to be gutted. I went to an herb/spice shop and that was really cool, I never there were so many natural substances that could improve your health.
 
Please don't have the same fucking notion that everyone has that Africa is one beautiful, shitty place. I lived in Rwanda for a summer, and I could walk around the capital city drunk on a friday night at 3am feeling more safe than in my American suburbs. No one is out to get you except for the few bastards, and I'm pretty sure its not too hard to avoid that. Just go in with some common sense and assume that everyone is nice, and your assumption will probably come true.

Of course, it seems like you're trying to do something different than I. I lived there for a summer with a Rwandan family (not poor, a doctor, but not rich by any means). I traveled around the country and spent a weekend in the DRC. All was super legit, did volunteering here and there. Never had a bad experience.

Obviously there are some spots in the fucking huge continent of Africa that are sketchy. It just really bothers me when people assume that its gonna be some gnarly, war-torn experience. Just do a little research and know what to expect. I'm sure you will have the time of your life.
 
No, I'm just traveling by myself from Namibia to Tanzania. I guess that being said I would have had the time, but I kinda like being on the move and I wanted to get from one coast to another. Good luck on your experience!
 
Hmm I didn't know people considered Johannesburg the city with the third worst crime rate in the world civilized. You have no idea what your talking about man. Just because white people live there doesn't mean theres not some third world country type shit going on there. I traveled through shack towns that had millions of residents, if thats civilized then uncivilized doesn't exist. Also don't not recommend a place to travel because of your assumptions, you haven't been there. Let me be the first to tell you that your assumptions are wrong.
I would actually recommend South Africa. The north eastern part of the country has Kruger which is really cool. Theres also a huge canyon thats really beautiful. I remember going to the top of the canyon and from there you can see across all of Mozambique and all the way to the Indian Ocean. Cape Town is also probably my favorite city in the world. Its so beautiful cause theres huge mountains surrounding it, yet at the same time it lies right next to the ocean. Heres a picture that I took of the sunset in capetown.
1242932783P1000257.JPG

 
And to be correct that photo is not in cape town itself. Its just east of it, but you look at the mountains in front of the sun then thats the cape of good hope. Baller status man, seriously a majestic place.
 
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